Project Gutenberg 2019-06-11 Public domain in the USA. 183 Riley, Frank 1915 1996 Ryhlick, Frank Riley, Frank Wilbert Emshwiller, Ed 1925 1990 Emsh Emsh, Ed Alexander, Ed Emshwiller, Edmund A. Willer EMSH Abbr. Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, February 1957 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Abbr." by Frank Riley is a science fiction novel written in the mid-20th century. The story follows Walther Von Koenigsburg, a wealthy colonist from the Andromeda galaxy, as he embarks on a long-anticipated journey to Earth, the mythical homeland of his ancestors. Upon his arrival, he finds a world vastly changed by a culture of extreme brevity and superficiality, where the richness of art and literature has been severely condensed, leading him to question the value of his dream of immersing himself in Earth's culture. The opening of the novel introduces Walther as he travels on an earth shuttle, filled with excitement and nostalgia for the cultural treasures he hopes to experience on Earth. However, his enthusiasm starts to fade as he encounters a language barrier and the peculiarities of the new culture, especially after witnessing the condensed versions of art and literature. As Walther navigates the disheartening reality of a society that prioritizes fast-paced entertainment over depth, he becomes determined to rescue the original works of art and literature from being lost forever, setting the stage for a larger conflict between cultural preservation and societal progress. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 74.2 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Culture -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Novels 142964 2025-07-23T14:32:15.722398 text/html 140879 2019-06-11T14:42:56 text/html 447821 2025-07-23T14:32:18.387385 application/epub+zip 450394 2025-07-23T14:32:16.183372 application/epub+zip 124354 2025-07-23T14:32:15.911394 application/epub+zip 508372 2025-07-23T14:32:20.085402 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 500740 2025-07-23T14:32:18.164418 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 175217 2022-09-27T02:27:59.668614 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 133515 2025-07-23T14:32:15.470420 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 133728 2019-06-11T14:42:56 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19559 2025-07-23T14:32:20.212369 application/rdf+xml 27275 2025-07-23T14:32:15.993382 image/jpeg 4930 2025-07-23T14:32:15.952389 image/jpeg 545923 2019-06-11T14:42:56 application/octet-stream application/zip 51927 2019-06-11T14:42:56 application/octet-stream application/zip 549048 2025-07-23T14:32:15.744394 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia